Condo sales are up in Muncie area
May 11th, 2007 - Category: Condo, Real EstateThe city is unlikely to replace Florida or Arizona as the next retirement haven, but local real estate experts are tracking an uptick in the sale of condominiums and speculating it might indicate an increasing market for retirement living.
Sales of condos and villas — traditionally thought to appeal to retirees because they don’t have to mow grass or shovel snow — jumped 80 percent locally between 2005 and 2006, real estate agent Jim Kouns said Wednesday.
Kouns spoke to members of the Ball State University Business Forecasting Roundtable at the group’s quarterly luncheon meeting at the Horizon Convention Center.
“Not to say we’re going to end up in old folks heaven,” Kouns said after the meeting. “But that wouldn’t be all bad. Retirees vote, they pay their taxes, they read newspapers. They’re stable.”
Kouns detailed other local real estate numbers, including a slight downturn in housing units sold so far this year compared to the same period in 2006.
Sales of housing units so far this year totaled 368, compared to 392 for the same period in 2006.
Kouns noted, however, that bad weather in late winter and early spring probably discouraged house-hunters.
“We’re down a little bit,” Kouns said. “But the first four months of the year is typically the slowest period. Two thirds of our business comes March through September.”
Compared to the national real estate market, Kouns noted, the local market has seen steady growth.
While building permits are down, a record 1,366 units were sold in 2006 for sales of $133 million, up from the record of $130 million in 2004.
The average sale price was $97,450. Eighty-five percent of local homes cost less than $150,000. Kouns said 839 units were in the local inventory, awaiting purchase.
Kouns speculated about an increase in real estate activity related to retirement because of the number of cash transactions, indicating homes purchased by people who had sold their home elsewhere for more, moved here and were able to pay cash.
“Two years ago, 25 percent of local sales were cash sales,” he said.
He noted that there were 20 condo/villa/duplex developments in Delaware County.
One of those is Willow Lake Crossing, on Morrison Road north of West Jackson Street.
Since the condo complex was developed in the early 1990s, 129 units in 35 buildings have been built at Willow Lake, sales manager Pam Jefferson said Wednesday. Five of the 129 units have not been sold.
Jefferson said the developer, Asset Midwest, was considering expanding Willow Lake to the south. If that happens, she said, another five or six buildings would be built.
Information from: www.thestarpress.com
